MS Intellimouse Explorer 2.0 cordless Model 1007 problem

[Muse]

It's the damndest thing. I haven't used the mouse for a long time, maybe a couple of years (I hardly ever used it at all) and I decided I'd donate it to a nonprofit I volunteer for. Parts of the left and right buttons were sticky (and shiny) and I figured I'd gotten something on it, likely sticky food although I'm usually pretty careful with such things. First I tried water on a sponge and a cloth and that didn't help. Then I tried 70% rubbing alcohol and it didn't clean off the sticky stuff. So, I went to lighter fluid and a tissue, it's naptha and usually just the thing to remove sticky stuff. It only made matters worse. Now the whole key surface of both buttons is very sticky and it peels off with my fingernail. :frown: It's as though the plastic itself of the L/R buttons of this entirely black 5 button mouse is decomposing! The whole mouse is plastic. It's only the left and right key surfaces that are doing this, and it's all over the exterior surface of those keys. This mouse got next to no use and has been kept clean and in a fairly cool controlled environment. Any take on this? WTF!

 

[Denithor]

Naptha is a good solvent for some plastics. I think you just dissolved part of your rodent.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: Denithor
Naptha is a good solvent for some plastics. I think you just dissolved part of your rodent.

Others report a similar problem. There's a very thin film of some kind of plastic on the buttons and for some reason, that film can and does decompose after a time. The naptha accelerated that decomposition process tremendously, and it left a gooey mess on the keys. However, scraping with a fingernail reveals solid black plastic underneath. Naptha is famous for removing gooey messes, and I'm having decent luck removing the gooey residue with a combination of naptha, cloth and elbow grease. It's a slow process, but 90+% of the goo is off now and I can and will remove the remainder using the same methods.

 

[-xx-]

So glad you posted this, Muse! I just had the exact same problem! Microsoft IntelliMouse Explorer 2.0 Model 1007, with the leather trim. Thought this mouse was gone forever, found it, hooked it up, and... yup. Stick. I thought the same as you and tried wiping the button surfaces with dry cloth thinking it was food or something (also very unlike me) and they just turned hairy. So I tried a little windex on the cloth and the buttons turned to goo! Anyway, thought I'd share, and glad to hear there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

-xx-

 

[-xx-]

Update: Tried the Naptha, and seemed like it was gonna take forever to get all the goo off, so I figured the Windex had started the process so quickly, it would probably fix the problem just as quickly. Which it did. Anyone else who reads this: Go with Windex to clean the sticky residue that coats the plastic of your microsoft mouse.

Thanks again Muse!